Woodlawn Utility Reviews (%countItem)
Woodlawn Utility Rating
Address: 2172 Woodlawn Rd, Woodlawn, Tennessee, United States, 37191-9000
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Woodlawn Utility District's is overcharging customers for water by extending days in billing period.
Woodlawn Utility District's billing period ending on 12 June 2020 was lengthened 3 days to 15 Jun 2020, making the period 34 days, 3 days more than the standard 30-31 days for each billing cycle.
The base amount for 2,000 CuFt of water including taxes is $25.50. On 12 June 2020 ~17:00 PM, 31 days after my previous meter reading of 62,300 CuFt on 12 May 2020, my meter read 64,225 CuFT, making a total usage for of 1,925 CuFt.
By extending the billing cycle another three days, three more days of usage bumped me into the next tier costing me an additional $6.80, usage that would have otherwise been part of the next billing cycle, and still under the 2,000 CuFt minimum amount I use.
Averaged out over 31 days, I am allocated ~64 CuFt a day. Adding another 3 days to the billing cycle adds another 192 CuFt to my usage causing me to go over the Minimum 2,000 CuFt.
I monitor my usage closely and read my meter often, ensuring I do not go over the minimum amount unless necessary.
By extending the billing cycle an additional three (3) days, I am sure there are uncounted other customers who are unwittingly victims of this unwarranted change in the number of billing days (34) in this cycle, causing many to be bumped to the next usage tier.
Correct Billing Cycles to match Standardized Billing Cycles for this type of service, and credit Customers accounts wrongly billed. Provide me feedback as to resolution.
Contact Name and Title: ***
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
Contact Email: ***@woodlawnutility.biz
The Woodlawn Utility District strives to read the meters as close to the 12th of the month as possible. There are sometimes when that timing will vary. The Woodlawn Utility District sells water by the gallon not the cubic foot. After researching back to the year 2005 and forward, the utility discovered that the minimum billing for water has never been above the measurement of 1800 gallons. Currently, the minimum billing is 0 to 1600 gallons at a rate of $23.29 prior to taxes and always been measured by the gallon. Commonly when a billing cycle runs longer due to timing, the following billing cycle will run shorter. In reference to the example provided, on June 06, 2020 the minimum bill threshold was exceeded which was before the reading cutoff date of June 15, 2020. Please review the usage graph provided.
A payment was made to Woodlawn on 6 Feb 2020 for $54,56. Payment was credited back into our account 7 Feb 2020 for insufficient funds along with two other creditors. I contacted *** and they informed me they do not resend *** on line payments which turned out to be incorrect. I immediately sent another payment in the amount*** $59.43 which would cover the late payment if not paid by 10 Feb 2020. That payment would not have been paid until 14 Feb 2020. Checking *** on line I identified that *** did resend the original payment*** $54.46 and was received and cashed on 10 Feb 2020 the actual due date by Woodlawn Utility. This payment covered the billing for 12/11/19 to 1/13/20.I immediately contacted *** and stopped payment on the *** on Line check*** $59.43. On 24 Feb 20 without any prior notification they shut***f our water and left a notification on the door. My wife had just returned from a Dr appoint to find out their was no water. This process is unacceptable because we have a handicapped daughter in a wheelchair which placed undue hardship on us. I immediately told my wife to go and pay the $35.00 which when I came home from work she explained why the water was shut***f and a charge*** $35.00. On 25Feb 2020, 0730 I went to Woodlawn Utility to have them explain everything. The charge was for the stop check I did and their reason was BECAUSE I DIDN"T TELL THEM. Unacceptable. They have NO policy in place that states YOU MUST TELL THEM YOU ARE STOPPING PAYMENT. They said they get over payments and duplicate payments all the time. Well I'm not one that will due that and that's why I stopped the payment. They shut the water***f because I stopped a payment and the bill was paid and nothing else owed for the month!!!! Again UNACCEPTABLE. In my opinion they stole money from our family all because they weren't told.
Account_Number: XXXX-XXXXX-XXX
Other (requires explanation) They return the $35.00 to us "in cash" just like my wife had to pay them and a formal apology for what they have put this family through.
All identifying information has been removed from our response.
On 2/7/2020, we received a check in the amount of $54.46 to be applied to the customers account. On 2/13/2020, we received another check in the amount of $59.43, also referencing the same account number and the check was applied to his account. We currently have 3500+ customers and an office staff of 3 people. During the first 2 weeks of the month, we receive and process several hundred checks per day. We have multiple customers who either pay ahead or make multiple payments during the month. Due to the number of customers we have, we cannot know the paying habits of each customer and are unable to research each check as it is received to ensure that other payment has not been received for the same account. We had no way of knowing that the customer did not intend to have the check credited to his account when it was received. In the past, we have had residents that have stopped payment on a check for various reasons that called to advise us of the situation. In these cases, we advise the resident that we will pull the payment before we process it, if we are able to catch it.
On 2/21/2020, the check was returned to us by our bank with the reason being a stop payment by the account holder. A $35.00 fee was added to his account per our returned check policy.
Our termination date for the month of February was on February 24th. In reviewing the accounts that had a past due balance, the customers account was inadvertently selected for cut off. This was not found out until the customers wife called to inquire about the interruption in her water service. The situation was explained to her, who came in to pay the $35.00 fee, and the water service was reinstated that very same afternoon by 4:00. The customer was extremely upset was at our office the morning of February 25th demanding to know what happened and was not satisfied with the explanation he received. At the time he advised us he would be contacting both his lawyer and the Revdex.com.
We are also unable to know the health situation of each resident in our district. If a resident is handicapped or disabled, we make every effort to accommodate them, provided they can provide something in writing from a doctor.
We will also be submitting a copy of our current returned check policy.
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Woodlawn Utility is useless. I still believe they are thieves and that this was not a returned check it was a stop payment and they had no business shutting off the water when the original bill was paid in full by the due date.
Please note that with all businesses there are policies that must be enforced. We do apologize for any inconvenience that this situation may have caused. When service is initiated a customer receives a copy of the Woodlawn Utility District's policies. Within this information, the Woodlawn Utility District's policy on return checks is listed.